Healthy people

This photo from my childhood shows (on the left) my grandparents and my sister, Sharon, in Alexander County in 1965. My grandfather Bill Mayberry was born in 1906 and lived to be 106. My grandmother Hessie passed at the age of 63. On the right, are my great-aunt Bessie and great-uncle Wade who visited periodically from Yadkinville. Bessie was my grandfather's sister, and she lived to be 102.

There were always kittens at Papaw's, and we had to "garden" in the summertime because Papaw said so. He always planted by the "almanac." I can remember cooking beets in the summer in a big black kettle.

Papaw was a "minute man." He wanted everything done immediately. He was also an avid checkers player. He never saw a doctor until about the age of 92, when he and a friend were in a minor wreck. When asked who his doctor was, he responded, "I don't have a doctor. They will kill you."

Over time, I could see how he mellowed with age. As grandchildren, we got peppermint stick candy for Halloween from Papaw. My kids (his great-grandchildren) got full-sized Mounds and Almond Joy candy bars for Halloween.